Kolkata: With tears in their eyes and pride in their hearts, hundreds gathered in the narrow lanes of Tehatta village in Nadia district on Saturday to pay their last respects to Armyman Havildar Jhantu Ali Sheikh, whose mortal remains were brought back to his na-tive village. The last rites of the braveheart from Bengal, who was killed during an anti-terror opera-tion at Udhampur in Jammu and Kashmir, were performed with full military honours, in-cluding a gun salute, near his residence in Tehatta. Jhantu lost his life while the Army was carrying out an anti-terror operation in response to the terrorist attack at Pahelgam which claimed the lives of 26 people, predominantly tourists. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee personally called Jhantu’s wife, assuring her of full gov-ernment support and assistance with her children’s education.
A few hours later, Banerjee announced a compensation of Rs 10 lakh and a government job offer for her. The Armyman’s body reached his residence at Patharghata village in a coffin early in the morning. Tears flowed uncontrollably from his wife, Ruma, and his parents as soon as his coffin reached their residence. His body, wrapped in the Indian tricolour, was accorded full military honours, and his last rites were performed according to the customs of the Indian Army. The villagers demanded exemplary punishment for the terrorists and retaliation for Jhantu’s death on the part of the Indian Army. Jhantu was the youngest of the three brothers in the family. The eldest of them also works with the Indian Army. Trinamool Congress Nadia MP Mahua Moitra and party MLAs Rukbanur Rehman, Ujjal Biswas and Tapas Saha were present during the last rites of the braveheart. His niece, Amina Sheikh, said that six bullets had hit the martyr’s body—one injuring his throat and ear, another hitting his ear and head, while the rest four struck his back as the firing took place from the rear. Jhantu is survived by his wife, a 10-year-old son and a 6-year-old daughter.